muenchow



y 9, 1955 J. F. MUENCHOW I 2,713,220

SLOPING ATTACHMENT FOR GRADERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 6, 1950 John F. Muenchaw INVENTOR.

BY al y 9, 1955 J. F. MUENCHOW 2,713,220

SLOPING ATTACHMENT FOR GRADERS Filed Nov. 6. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 John E Muenchow INVENTOR.

BY MM.

QMWFMW United States Patent This invention relates to new and useful improvements in road graders and the primary object of the present invention is to provide a sloping attachment for graders to permit the sloping of road banks and shoulders during the normal road grading operation.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a sloping blade'attachment for graders with a boom for raising and lowering the sloping blade and a novel and improved connecting and bracing means between the sloping blade and the boom and the grader frame.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a sloping blade that is connected at one end to the earth moving blade of a grader by a universal joint, a boom attached to the sloping blade for selectively raising and lowering the sloping blade, a flexible bracing member connecting the sloping blade to the frame of a grader, and a resilient hanger means between the boom and the flexible member to retain the flexible member tensione or taut.

A still further aim of the present invention is to provide a device of the aforementioned character that is quickly and readily applied to and removed from a grader in a convenient manner and which is extremely strong and reliable in use, and efficient and durable in operation.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, references being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the present invention mounted on a grader;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the boom, the raising and lowering means for the boom and the telescoped connector for forming the boom with a sloping blade, and with parts of the raising and lowering means and the connector broken away for the convenience of explanation;

Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 2; and,

Figure 4 is a view taken substantially on the plane of section line 4--4 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration, there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the numeral represents a well known type of road grader having the usual earth moving blade 12 and the necessary means for angling and rotating the blade 12.

A mechanism 14 is mounted on the grader frame for selectively raising and lowering a boom 16. The mechanism 14 includes a housing 18 that rotatably supports a horizontally disposed driven shaft 20 on which there is mounted a gear 22. The gear 22 meshes with a worm 24 mounted on a vertically disposed idler shaft 26 supported by the housing 18. The shaft 26 supports a gear 28 that meshes with a worm 30 on a horizontally disposed power driven shaft 32. A suitable clutch is operatively connected to the shaft 32 whereby the operation of the shaft 32 may be manually controlled to permit rotation of the shaft 20 clockwise or counterclockwise by the power plant of the grader.

One end of the boom 16 supports a clamp 34 that is clamped about the outwardly projecting end of the shaft 20. A spider-like member 36 is fixed to the boom 16 intermediate the ends of the boom 16. The radially projecting arms 38 of the member are fixed by welding or the like to the central portions of a plurality of elongated bracing and reinforcing rods 40 whose ends are fixed by Welding or the like to the ends of the boom 16.

The inner end of a sloping blade 42 is connected to one end of the earth moving blade 12 by a universal joint 44 more specifically disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,284,463 issued May 26, 1942. This joint 44 consists of a plate 46 welded to the blade 12 and supporting a pair of vertical bearing rings 48 that support a bar 50 having a bifurcated end 52. Another plate 54 welded to the inner end of the blade 42 supports an arm 56 having an eye end 58 that enters the bifurcated end 52 and the ends 52 and 58 are joined by a vertical pin 60.

A telescoped connector is provided between the outer end of the boom 16 and the outer end of the blade 42.

This connector consists of inner and outer slidably connected tubes 62 and 64. The upper end of the tube 64 supports a pair of arms 66 that receive therebetween the ends of a split clamp 68. The clamp 68 is disposed about the outer end of the boom 16 and the ends of the clamp 68 are secured to the arms 66 by a horizontal pivot 70. The tube 64 is provided with an opening 72 for registering with one of a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings 74 in the tube 62 and a pin 76, attached to an eye 78 on the tube 64 by a chain 80, is extended through the opening 72 and a selected one of the openings 74 to adjust the tubes 62 and 64 longitudinally of each other.

The lower end of the tube 62 supports a rigid loop 34 attached to the outer end of the blade 42. Through this construction, the outer end of the blade 42 may be selectively raised and lowered with respect to the outer end of the boom 16.

Means is provided for connecting and bracing the blade 42 to the grader frame and to the boom and this means comprises a chain 86 that is terminally attached to the outer end of the blade 42 and to a forward portion of the grader 10. A hanger chain 88 depends from the spider-like member 36 and its lower end is attached to the upper end of a coil spring 90 whose lower end supports a ring 92 that slidably receives the chain 86.

It should be noted that the chain 86 takes the strain of the moldboard 12 and the chain 88 is for the purpose of taking slack out of chain 86 when the patrol is backing. The spring 90 assists in relieving the slack in chain 86 and the spring 90 is expanded or stretched when the patrol is moving forward whereas the spring 90 contracts when the patrol is moving rearwardly to keep chain 86 clear of the front wheel of the patrol. Chains 86 and 88 also relieve stress on blade 42.

The downward swing of blade 42 is controlled by boom arm 64 and the further the boom arm 64 is extended, the further blade 42 is pulled forward by chain 86. This is true unless chain 86 is adjusted on the patrol by lengthening chain 86 which would permit blade 42 to recede.

Housing 18 is a conventional part of the grader, however, the mechanism in housing 13 is altered to adapt it for the purpose disclosed. The mechanism in housing 18 normally controls the fifth wheel of the grader which changes the position of blade 12 from the horizontal to vertical and back. When the mechanism in housing 18 is rebuilt, as shown in the drawings, it will selectively raise and lower the boom 16.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. In a grader including an earth moving blade, a bank sloper comprising a sloping blade having inner a boom, said connecting means being slidably received on the flexible connector.

2.'In a grader including an earth moving blade, a bank sloper comprising a sloping blade having iuner and outer ends, a universal connection between the inner-end of said sloping blade and one end of said earth moving blade, avertically swingabl'e boonrmounte'd on thegrader frame and overlying the sloping blade, an adjustable connection between said boom and the'outer end of said sloping blade, a flexible connector between the sloping blade and the grader frame, means 'on the grader and operatively connected to the boom 'for selectively raising and lowering the boom, a flexible hanger depending from the boom, and a coil spring having an upper end attached to said hanger and a lower end slidably engaged with said flexible connector,

3 The combination of claim 1 wherein said adjustable connection includes a pair of slidably and adjustably connected tubes, means swiveling one of the tubes to a the outer end of the sloping blade and means pivotally attaching the other tube to the boom.

4. he road grader including a vertically movable boom and an earth moving blade; asl'oping blade, a universal conection between one end of the sloping blade and the earth moving blade, a chain terminally attached to the sloping blade and the grader frame, a resilient connector between the 'boom and the chain preventing the chain from becoming slacked, and-a tele- '4 scoped connection between the sloping blade and the boom. V

5. In a road grader including a vertically movable boom and an earth moving blade; a sloping blade, a universal connection between one end of the sloping blade and the earth moving blade, 2. chain terminally attached to the sloping blade and the grader frame, a resilient connector between the boom and the chain and slidably engaged with the chain, said resilient connector preventing the chain from becoming slacked, inner and outer slidably connected tubes, means swiveling the inner tube to the sloping blade, means pivotally attaching the outer tube to the boom, andme'ans adjusting the tubes longitudinally of each other.

6. In a road grading apparatus including a frame, a vertically movable boom on the frame, an earth moving blade supported on the frame, a sloping blade, a universal connection between the earth moving blade and one end of the sloping blade, 21 chain terminally attached to the other end of the sloping blade and the frame, and a connection between the boom and the said other end of said sloping blade; the improvement of which comprises a hanger chain having an upper end secured to the boom, a coil spring havin'gzan upper end secured to the'low'er end ofsaidhan ger chain, and aring element secured to the lower end of said "spring slidably engaged about the first named chain.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D Artenay May I 15 .1951 

